Bangladesh imports potato for first time

Business Desk :
Bangladesh for the first time imported around 175 tonnes of potatoes from India for domestic consumption on Thursday.

Nine trucks carried the potatoes to Bangladesh through the Hili land port of Dinajpur and more consignments are waiting to be imported, port officials said.

Earlier, 14 importers obtained permission to bring in 12,000 tonnes of potato from India through Hili, according to the Importers and Exporters Group of Hili Land Port of Hakimpur Upazila of Dinajpur.

The first shipment arrived on Thursday, port officials added.

The potatoes were produced at Gangarampur upazila of Dakshin Dinajpur of India’s West Bengal, said Mahbub Alam, clearing and forwarding agent of the importers.

Shahidul Islam, an importer of Hili Land Port, said he was given go-ahead to import around 2,500 tonnes of potato from India.

The cost of a kilogramme of potato will be around Tk 30 to Tk 32 after paying all charges, including transportation costs and duty, he said.

The commerce ministry, on October 30, decided to allow potato imports in an effort to increase supply of the tuber and curb prices of the popular vegetable, which is traded at historic high of Tk 60 per kg in Dhaka.

This is the first time Bangladesh, which exports potato, takes the decision to grant import of the vegetable.

Mohammad Masum, chairman of Supreme Seed Company Ltd, a leading seed company, said potato was never imported into the country for consumption in the past as far as his knowledge.

Bangladesh imports seed potatoes for cultivation. “Now, it is to see whether prices fall,” he said.

Potato prices will go down to some extent once varieties hit the local markets, said Harun-ur-Rashid, president of the Hili Land Port Importers and Exporters Group.

Tia Roy, a retail vendor of Railbazar Hat in Dinajpur town, said he was selling cardinal variety of potatoes at Tk 44 a kg on Thursday and the local varieties at Tk 58 a kg.